1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an electrical outlet safety cover plate for covering an electrical outlet receptacle that protects against insertion of foreign objects into the sockets of the electrical outlet receptacle, which can thereby prevent accidental electrical shock.
2. Prior Art
There have been many accidents that happen when small children accidentally insert objects into electrical wall receptacles thus resulting in electrical shock. Most homes have the outlets that are uncovered and readily visible to children, inviting a curious child to insert an object into the openings, many times with serious consequences. Prior art discloses the many designs for electrical outlet safety covers that have been proposed through the years:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,017 issued to Wolfe-Taylor et al. discloses an electrical cover plate that has a pair of spring loaded shutters for each receptacle that traverse laterally in guides, and are independently positioned to align the hole in each shutter with a hole on the cover plate and electrical receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,634 issued to Antone II et al. discloses an electrical cover plate with independent closures that traverse vertically with each of the closures being biased to a closed position by tensioning element. The guides are in a backing plate attached to the cover plate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,793,818 and 4,857,004 issued to Poirier discloses a safety guard which comprises a cover with a pair of openings adapted to be mounted over an electrical wall outlet and closure elements which are slidably mounted to the cover to expose or to cover the openings in registry with the sockets of the wall outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,755 issued to Engel et al. discloses a safety plate for electrical outlets which includes a cover plate having apertures therein for receiving the prongs of an electrical plug. A pair of slidable panels also having apertures for the prongs of a plug are mounted to the back of the cover plate and are held in place by a back plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,916 issued to Engel et al. discloses a safety plate for electrical outlets which includes a cover plate having a pair of openings. Slidable panels with access apertures are mounted on the back of the cover plate by a back plate that has apertures corresponding to the outlet receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,820,842 issued to Meistrell discloses an electrical cover plate having an opening for access to the electrical receptacle. A pair of slidable panels with access apertures are mounted on the back of the cover plate by a back plate that has openings corresponding to the outlet receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,456 issued to Dola discloses a cover plate having a pair of openings. A pair of slidable panels with access apertures are mounted on the back of the cover plate by dovetail grove in the cover plate.
Although there have been many solutions proposed to minimize the potential for electrical shock from the insertion of objects into electrical outlet receptacles by smaller children, many have proven cumbersome in there application by adults. There are some cover plates that utilize a movable shutter on the exterior of the cover plate that require the insertion of the electrical prongs to manipulate the shutter into an aligned position. A small child can place an object into the shutters apertures, which are just as inviting as an open socket, and slide the cover over. Also many of these proposals are at least as unsightly as the electrical outlet receptacles that they cover. The most successful solution to date for limiting a child's access to electrical outlet receptacles has been a simple plastic plug cover that is inserted directly into the electrical outlet receptacle. Unfortunately these same plug covers are also very difficult for an adult to remove, can be easily misplaced, and present a choking hazard for younger children. There has been a limited amount of commercial success with safety cover plates that offer some type of protection for children and ease of use by adults.
The object of the described embodiment of the invention is to provide an aesthetically appealing, yet effective means of limiting a younger child's access to the electrical outlet receptacle as well as providing a safety cover plate that can be easily used by an adult.